business headlines Friday.
Markets retreat as oil slides
Stocks from the US to Asia lurched downwards as oil prices continued their retreat, sliding below $36 per barrel, and copper dropped to a four-year low. In New York yesterday the benchmark S&P 500 Index fell 2.12 per cent and in Asia the slump continued, with the MSCI Asia Pacific Index falling 0.3 per cent, for a weekly gain of 6.6 per cent. Commodity stocks in the region reacted to weak materials prices, with BHP Billiton shares down 3.5 per cent in Australia. In London the FTSE 100 opened one per cent down.
Bank of Japan slashes rates
The Bank of Japan cut its benchmark interest rate to 0.1 per cent and committed itself to buying corporate debt, as the worsening recession reduces funding, reported Bloomberg.com. BoJ governor Masaki Shirakawa and the rest of the board lowered the overnight lending target from 0.3 per cent in a seven-to-one vote. The BoJ said it would buy commercial paper and the decision to increase its purchases of bonds "sparked a rally in the market". It was the second reduction in two months and puts Japan on an equal footing to the US.
Pounds nears euro parity
Sterling dropped to within five pence of parity with the euro on Thursday, as it plumbed a fresh record low, said the Financial Times. It was the ninth successive day of new lows, as the euro rose to 1.05 against the pound for the first time amid "rising speculation" that the Bank of England will follow the US Federal Reserve and Bank of Japan in cutting rates to virtually zero. The BoE's deputy governor, Charlie Bean, said in an interview that the worsening outlook "could see UK interest rates falling close to zero", speculation, the chancellor was said to find "unhelpful".
Bankrupt Britain: how it could happen 
Jaguar Land Rover says UK auto industry a national emergency
The head of Jaguar Land Rover has claimed that the UK car industry faces a "national emergency" after new numbers showed that car production slumped by a third last month, reported the Daily Telegraph. 97,604 cars were manufactured in the UK in November, 33.3 per cent lower than the same month in 2007, the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders figures said yesterday, after a "rapid slowdown" in demand. David Smith, the chief executive of Jaguar, said it was waiting for news of a bail-out, and that the auto sector needs "urgent action".
Slash rates, save car plants - the arguments against
Retailers suffer mixed fortunes
Online shopping has "surged" in the run-up to Christmas, giving it its highest share of the overall spending pie so far, said the Guardian. However the retail picture is very mixed, with department store sales slumping to a "record low", according to the Office for National Statistics. Goods bought on the internet rose to 3.8 per cent last month, compared to 2.8 per cent in June. Analysts warned that web sales were "highly seasonal", as overall retail sales volumes grew 0.3 per cent in November, the first rise in three months.
You switch - I'll be in the pub
Belgian PM under pressure
Pressure was mounting yesterday on the Belgian prime minister to resign over allegations that the government has attempted to influence the country's judges in relation to the Fortis rescue, reported the Financial Times. Cabinet ministers held an "emergency meeting" to look at allegations that Yves Leterme's office had "sought to influence" an appeal court to try to prevent the announcement that froze the break-up of the embattled financial services comany. The court ruled that shareholders "should have been consulted".
Democracy comes off the worst in a bruising EU encounter
...in brief..................
Repossessions to return to 90s levels and Parmalat chief guilty
Home repossessions are expected to return to 1990s levels, according to figures released by the Council for Mortgage Lenders yesterday. The body said that 2009 would be "very tough", with government measures for those struggling to pay their mortgages failing to stop the rout…………
One-time baggage-handler Ken Townsley has sold half his company to Thomas Cook for £25m after building up the UK's largest independent travel operator, said the Times. He is the chairman and sole owner of Gold Medal, and "could walk away with £87m" if Thomas Cook completes the purchase…………
Hedge funds are shutting in record numbers as "disastrous" returns and "heavy investor redemptions" continue to "savage" the sector, reported the Daily Telegraph. Liquidations soared by 70 per cent in the third quarter, compared to the year before, and 344 funds closed in the period…………
The options trading strategy Bernard Madoff said he used would have needed "at least 10 times the contracts that trade on US exchanges", said Bloomberg.com. The total number of S&P 100 options used by Madoff is enough to hedge losses in only $3.25bn of trades, while the company ran $35bn…………
Alexander Cockburn: After Madoff, America’s own Ponzi fraud unwinds
Credit Suisse has "hatched a cunning plan" to avoid condemnation over bonuses this year, involving paying them in "toxic debt", said the Independent. Thousands of directors and managing directors will receive shares in a new internal hedge fund containing $5bn in the illiquid mortage assets…………
Calisto Tanzi, the former chief executive of Parmalat, the collapsed Italian group known as "Europe's Enron", was sentenced to 10 years in prison in Milan yesterday, said the Financial Times. Tanzi was found guilty of deception, market-rigging and false accounting after a three year trial…………
The economic unwinding turns from tragedy to farce
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